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There was also an Italia that showed up at the "Great Connecticut Traditional Jazz Festival" in Moodus, CT, in 1997, as part of the Antique Auto Parade & Display--I know because I took a picture of it, and use that as one of the images on the "online flyer" for the event that I help with: http://members.aol.com/cgextras/JzzFstFlyer.html It's Sunday July 31st, this year, by the way folks, and a great time.

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:</div><div class="ubbcode-body"> I'll be there with my '78 Mustang King Cobra going for a Senior. </div></div> Wow--that is indeed cool. Have you posted any pictures of your car online (perhaps in the AACA Collectible Automobile Photo Post)? Good luck going for Senior!!

I thought this was going to be a thread about restoring Pontiac Azteks (the "Official Car of Wal-Mart Shoppers"--unofficial title based upon my amateur observations, anyway...). Great photo-compilation at that site--especially like the Mechanix Illustrated cover image. Is the guy who restored it a priest?! That must say something (though I'm not sure what...)

Ditto DizzyDale! Why, would you believe there are even some "sickos" who are enthusiastic about Ford-freakin-Pintos?! http://www.aaca.org/photopost/data/541/18910Hershey04PintoOvrllFrt99-med.jpg?2004 Seriously, Hershey is an old car experience positively unmatched, and to be a part of it (even a very small part of it) is a privilege. And that is not to ignore all the other very fine AACA events that happen in other parts of the country through the year--they are uniformly *excellent.* Join AACA and become part of THE premier old car enthusiast organization in the world (with THE premier official publication), and enjoy the opportunity to participate in some of the greatest old car events ever. Is this a great country or what?!

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Connecticut may lead the nation in 25 year old vehicles with "Early American" vintage plates, attached to rolling wrecks used by house painters & low overhead odd job guys. </div></div> I see *some* of that action, Bob, but not a lot, I would say. I run my 1968 VW Beetle as my summertime daily commuter car, and have an "EA" plate on it (ref: http://members.aol.com/commongear/OldiePlt2Vertenh2rsz.JPG), but as Twitch pointed out, I run "regular" insurance on it (since the "classic" policy that other of our old cars are on doesn't cover that sort of usage). The '68 VW is in no way anything approaching a "show" type of car, but it's basically a mechanically reliable, good running beast, that's fun to get into and drive daily. And thankfully we have the town tax assessment relief that the EA plates afford us (though the "collector value" of my '68 VW probably isn't too much more...).

"Proper" nicknames for a couple of the notable vehicles you mentioned, crazy (best of my memory, anyway...): Scooby Doo van = The Mystery Machine, Griswolds' "Vacation" station wagon: "The Truckster."

Nice work Judy. That "snowplow driver" VW Beetle commercial is also one of my favorites. I've also always liked the VW Fastback commercial that features the young Dustin Hoffman ("Graduate"-era, I'd estimate), and recently received a home-made CD with a copy of it on the disk, so if you ever would like a copy... All my modern "wintertime" vehicles were out of commission last week, so I had to pull our old '70 VW Squareback out of the garage and commute with it for most of the week. Car ran great, but the I-95 tailgaters sure were scary to drive with... I tried snapping a couple shots of myself driving the car, and after taking a ton of them, pretty much only came up with one semi-presentable, which I'll try to attach herewith (yes, I did notice the horn button's upside down--d'oh!... Best to everyone, and remember, Spring's on it's way...

There was a fairly bland series on maybe about 10 or so years ago, possibly on public TV, following the step-by-step restoration of a '65 (I think) Mustang notchback (they even spent time covering what kind of car to select to restore, and went around and evaluated several candidates). I don't recall the name of the series, but I think Eastwood was the major underwriter. It was good viewing and spent the time to discuss a lot of the nitty-gritty type details that we never hear about in the "overhaulin'" type shows (which I find kind of frustrating to watch, since so much originality is trashed in their "restorations"). For me, the most interesting parts of those shows are the (apparent) human drama of when stuff doesn't go right (the show with Boyd and the American Chopper guys shows are also good for that--someone's always good and p.o.'d...). Anyway, obviously that old restoration show didn't set the world on fire (like "overhaulin'" et al, obviously are), and it is long since forgotten (by most of us anyway).

For us, it would be oddball old VW hub caps that we're able to scrounge cheap at Hershey (the various JCWhitney variations are especially entertaining, to show how they made their caps look like original VW, but often with detail differences), and definitely old license plates too--my wife's been picking them up cheap here and there, again mostly at places like Hershey, and they make a colorful & interesting garage wall adornment. Good thread Bob. How're you enjoying this lovely "nearly-spring" weather here in CT? I was amazed to hear the homebound-commute "horror stories" from so many co-workers yesterday, in light of the weather conditions Tuesday afternoon (as for me, I was "no hero" and booked home early--since I have afternoon kid pick-up responsiblities). Come on SPRING!

I am very sad to hear this news and wish to extend my sincerest sympathies to Kim and her family.

Big Congrats Sal!

An awesome tribute--congratulations Mr. Smith!

That's amazing dedication, 24T42. I try to tinker around with my hobby sites here and there, but to put in the ongoing effort that you do--I am in awe. The AACA web site is indeed fortunate to have you on it's team (and so are we, the readers/visitors!).

I just found some fantastic "Herbie - The Love Bug" trivia on the Junior AACA page (within the "Star Cars" section). Great job by the creators and maintainers of that site!

Hey Bob, they did make it to *some parts* of Connecticut. When I was in college I worked as a mail sorter one summer at the big postal processing center up in the Hartford North Meadows (there used to be a Jai Alai place near there, now I think the Meadows Music Theater is the most well-known nearby landmark), midnight to 6 shift (ugh, horrible shift to work--I never felt completely "good"). From my experience, they always had us work on the first class mail first, especially the letters. The magazines and other of that type of stuff were always done at the end of the shift, "if we had time."

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:</div><div class="ubbcode-body"> The wife found the captions, actually the story inside was not advertized near the front or in the "Table of Contents". Hard to find, guys. Great job, otherwise. RWB </div></div> That's about the only comment I would have as well. Took me a little while to finally figure out that the front & back cover features were detailed stories within the body of the magazine. Otherwise, like Wayne said, a great job!

The January-February 205 Antique Automobile just hit my mailbox here in Stony Creek, CT today as well--VERY beautifully done! Can't wait to spend some time exploring it! Congratulations and thanks to all who worked so hard to make it happen! Snowing out pretty well "as we speak"--I may have more A.A. reading time than I think...

Thanks Sal! Steve

Two thumbs up for the Connecticut Street Rod Association www.csra.org/ first rate group of automobile enthusiasts!

Good thread, Doug--and nice to see you and a few other old-VW folks chiming in. My first car was a '71 Super Beetle that my dad helped me buy, and before that, he had a series of Beetles, including a '57 Sedan, '61 Sunroof, and '63 Convertible. So, I guess I had a bit of a built-in VW-bent--even though I didn't really know it until after I was married, and my wife got interested in them, and dragged one home. Now we own several old ones, and both of us have air cooled VW summertime daily drivers (and modern VW wintertime daily drivers). They're funky & fun, and fairly easy to keep running. An "intruder" entered our garage early in 2004, however, when my wife acquired a nice low-miles original '73 Ford Pinto--she explains that she's always liked them, ever since many friends and teachers had them back in her high school years.

Mine just arrived yesterday, David--great job and thank you!